Honestly, if anything, it should be unicorns who would be second class citizens. They add literally nothing to Equestria these days beyond some cheap parlor tricks.
Earth Ponies: Grow all the food, do heavy lifting. Pegasus: Manage the weather and seasons. Unicorns: ... Do what exactly? It's canon that the vast majority never learn more then two or three spells directly relating to their cutie mark, and they don't even raise the sun or moon anymore, Celestia and Luna have taken over those duties. For every Twilight Sparkle or Trixie you're going to have a hundred Background unicorns who can only manage levitation and light spells.
3532358 Considering it's literally one of the most important jobs in Equestria, shouldn't the weather factory be getting either grants or its entire goddamn budget direct from Canterlot? For the sole purpose of preventing this exact scenario occurring, and the weather factory having to shut down because it can't afford to run anymore, and then everypony dying a few months later after all the plants do?
5091188 They managed to keep the weather in check to an extent. At least to the point where nobody was going to starve. They just couldn't create weather anymore, and had to work with what they had. The only ones who could physically create weather patterns are Night Rain and her brother, which we'll find out soon.
5091188 Actually, the Unicorns would probably do just fine by themselves. The Pegasi and Mud Ponies perform the only duties they adequately can - weather control and farming - while Unicorns maintain the actual civilization of Equestria. Without the Pegasi and Earthies, Unicorns would have to develop ways to control weather (like they already apparently do in Canterlot) and grow food (in the official comics, plant growth spells exist) on large scale.
Since spellbooks seem reasonably common and there is an entire school for gifted Unicorns, there almost certainly are many more skilled Unicorn mages than the ones seen in the show. And never, ever underestimate the power of simple telekinesis for a species that lacks hands.
#youbetterwriteanotherchapterbeforeigotocanidaandfindyou
3531959
Honestly, if anything, it should be unicorns who would be second class citizens. They add literally nothing to Equestria these days beyond some cheap parlor tricks.
Earth Ponies: Grow all the food, do heavy lifting.
Pegasus: Manage the weather and seasons.
Unicorns: ... Do what exactly? It's canon that the vast majority never learn more then two or three spells directly relating to their cutie mark, and they don't even raise the sun or moon anymore, Celestia and Luna have taken over those duties. For every Twilight Sparkle or Trixie you're going to have a hundred Background unicorns who can only manage levitation and light spells.
3532358 Considering it's literally one of the most important jobs in Equestria, shouldn't the weather factory be getting either grants or its entire goddamn budget direct from Canterlot? For the sole purpose of preventing this exact scenario occurring, and the weather factory having to shut down because it can't afford to run anymore, and then everypony dying a few months later after all the plants do?
5091188 They managed to keep the weather in check to an extent. At least to the point where nobody was going to starve. They just couldn't create weather anymore, and had to work with what they had. The only ones who could physically create weather patterns are Night Rain and her brother, which we'll find out soon.
5091188 Actually, the Unicorns would probably do just fine by themselves. The Pegasi and Mud Ponies perform the only duties they adequately can - weather control and farming - while Unicorns maintain the actual civilization of Equestria. Without the Pegasi and Earthies, Unicorns would have to develop ways to control weather (like they already apparently do in Canterlot) and grow food (in the official comics, plant growth spells exist) on large scale.
Since spellbooks seem reasonably common and there is an entire school for gifted Unicorns, there almost certainly are many more skilled Unicorn mages than the ones seen in the show. And never, ever underestimate the power of simple telekinesis for a species that lacks hands.